FTSE 100 rises as Wood Group, Network International shares soar

It’s merger Monday in London as interest in British companies continue. Wood Group (LON: WG) share price jumped by more than 7% on Monday while Network International Holdings jumped by almost 20%. This price action helped push the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 indices higher by more than 25 basis points.

Wood Group and Network International buyouts

The biggest finance news in London on Monday was about the proposals to buy two companies by private equity companies.

As I wrote in this article, Wood Group, a British engineering company, received a bid from Apollo Group, one of the biggest private equity companies in the world. Initially, the company rejected the deal, saying that it vastly undervalued it. 

Now, it seems like Wood Group has changed its views. In a statement, the company said that it would engage with Apollo to finalize a deal that values it at over $2.06 billion. Therefore, Apollo will now be required to submit a final bid for the company by May 17.

Meanwhile, Network International, a fintech company listed in London, said that it had received a bid from CVC and Francisco Partners. This deal values the company at over $2.1 billion. In a statement, the company said that it had rejected several other offers recently.

Interest in companies listed in the UK has been growing in the past few years. Companies like Morrison’s, Avast, and Meggit have been acquired in the past few years. Most recently, a US private equity company proposed acquiring Darktrace.

Globally, there are signs that M&A activity is rising. As I wrote here, Glencore has suggested to acquire Teck Resources while Pfizer is acquiring Seagen in a $46 billion deal. Newmont has proposed acquiring Newcrest. And during the weekend, Merk said that it would acquire Prometheus Biosciences in a $11 billion deal.

FTSE 100 forecast

FTSE 100 chart by TradingView

The daily chart shows that the FTSE 100 index has been in a strong bullish trend in the past few months. It has managed to rise above the important resistance point at 7,706, the lowest point on January 25th. The shares have jumped above the 25-day and 50-day moving averages while the Relative Strength Index (RSI) is approaching the overbought level.

Therefore, there is a likelihood that the FTSE 100 index will continue rising as buyers target the all-time high of 8,055.